San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance was selected with the third overall pick in the NFL draft. With such a high selection and trade-up to get to that pick, many thought that Kyle Shanahan was tabbing Lance as his next quarterback. Aside from goal-line packages and an emergency start in relief of the injured Jimmy Garoppolo, Lance has yet to see the field as a signal-caller. Shanahan offered strange reasoning as to why.

That doesn't seem like the best reasoning for not playing Trey Lance, the third pick in the draft. Kyle Shanahan doesn't want to start the rookie because he's gotten into a rhythm of calling plays against defenses without Lance in the lineup? That sounds like a roundabout way of the 49ers saying that Lance just isn't ready.

Either that, or Shanahan doesn't think Lance is as good as he once did. It's not a problem for the 49ers right now, who are riding the highs of a three-game winning streak, but it could be down the road.

Think of it this way. Any NFL team that picks a quarterback as high as number-three overall in the draft is basically anointing that player as their franchise guy. In the history of the NFL, any quarterback taken that high almost always plays as a starter in year one.

Shanahan and the 49ers' unwillingness to go to Lance as the starter is odd. As long as they keep on winning, they won't have to worry too much about playing the rookie.

But the longer they go without starting Lance, the more questions are going to emerge about just how wise of a draft strategy it was to trade up to the third overall pick to select a quarterback who was only ever going to hold a clipboard for a year.